Temple University buys AI-powered firearm-detection tech from ZeroEyes
Temple University administrators on Monday unveiled new artificial intelligence technology hoped to spot firearms on its Philadelphia campus.
NBC Philadelphia reported that Temple Police Chief and Vice President for Public Safety Jennifer Griffin demonstrated technology the institution purchased from ZeroEyes, a company that uses AI to automatically detect firearms.
The technology, which is increasingly used by school districts, businesses and universities to cut perhaps 30 to 60 seconds from response time when a gun is detected, is praised by some law enforcement personnel, but has been criticized by some, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, for using misleading marketing and lobbying efforts.
Griffin told WHYY that the institution conducted an audit of the campus’s 1,500 cameras over the last few years to ensure the technology will work correctly. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority began testing the technology last year but quietly abandoned the effort upon discovering its old cameras did not provide footage of high enough resolution to be compatible with ZeroEyes’s AI models.
Local news outlet 6ABC reported that Temple, which enrolls about 30,000 students, has seen about 18 shootings within a quarter mile of its campus so far this year.
